In preparation of a carbon electrode, a polymer binder is usually used to adhere electrode material particles and bind the electrode material particles to a current collector. Because the adhesive effect of the polymer binder dramatically influences the electrode performance, tailoring the polymer binder properties is very important. Fluorine based polymers usually serve as the binder for preparing the electrode, in which the polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) is the most popular. The advantage of the PVDF binder is that it can maintain the electronic integrity of the entire electrode through mechanically holding the active materials and additives together. In addition, an appropriate amount of the PVDF binder will not negatively influence the electrochemical properties of the active material. However, the PVDF binder still has other shortcomings such as high cost, rigidness, and environmental unfriendly.
Accordingly, a novel binder composition is called for to replace the PVDF binder applied to adhere the electrode material particles and bind the electrode particles to the current collector.